“Hot shot” smuggling organization heading to prison for illegally transporting thousands

McALLEN, Texas - Four men involved in a large-scale smuggling conspiracy have been sentenced for "inhumanely" transporting individuals into the United States, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Mission residents Diego Flores, 29, Gerardo Villarreal, 34, and Gilberto Rios, 35, all previously pleaded guilty along with Antonio Cuevas-Lozano, 46, Mexico, to conspiracy to transport or harbor undocumented individuals within the United States. Villarreal also admitted to being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane has now ordered Diego Flores to serve 156 months in federal prison. Villarreal received 120 months for the smuggling conspiracy and 70 months for the firearms conviction to be served concurrently, along with 24 months on a supervised release violation to be served consecutively for a total 144-month sentence. Rios and Cuevas-Lozano were sentenced to 63 and 30 months, respectively. Flores, Rios and Villarreal must also serve three years of supervised release, while Cuevos-Lozano is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment.

At the hearing, the court heard how the organization moved thousands of undocumented aliens in groups of at least 70 by placing them inside containers and drilling them closed from the outside, loading them onto trailers and transporting them on the highway in the hot Texas climate. Diego Flores acted in a leadership capacity within the smuggling organization and had a prior smuggling conviction. The court also considered how the organization utilized multiple firearms to threaten the individuals. Judge Crane noted the complete disregard for the safety of the undocumented people the organization exhibited, expressing that the means and methods of transportation were "inhumane."

"Human smugglers ply their trade praying on the vulnerable," said Hamdani. "These smugglers cramped dozens of migrants into wooden crates and then bolted those crates shut, leaving the migrants to the mercy of South Texas's brutal heat. Such conduct was not just predatory; it also demonstrated a total disregard for the value of human life. Today's sentences reflect how my office will not rest until we disrupt and dismantle the deadly human smuggling operations that cause so much sorrow along the Southwest border."

Beginning in April 2022, Diego Flores hired "hot shot" drivers to transport various containers, including wooden boxes, sheds and hay bales on flat-bed trailers further north. If ever intercepted at the Falfurrias Border Patrol (BP) checkpoint, the drivers would minimize culpability on those within the smuggling organization as the drivers were unaware of what they were transporting.

On April 26, 2022, law enforcement intercepted a load of 40 undocumented individuals within wooden boxes. Authorities also found 69 people in compartments in the roofs of two sheds strapped onto flat-bed trailers July 19, 2023. Another interception occurred Aug. 18, 2023, when law enforcement located a load of 28 undocumented aliens hidden in a compartment surrounded by hay bales. Authorities also discovered 36 more hidden within wooden crates loaded on a trailer 11 days later. Then, on Sept. 1, 2023, law enforcement found eight people hidden in a compartment underneath a trailer, between it and the road.

On each occasion, authorities spoke to those recovered and uncovered the large-scale smuggling organization.

Those in the conspiracy utilized a ranch property in Mission to build the compartments in which to transport undocumented individuals. On every occasion, the conspirators instructed the aliens to get inside and drilled the containers closed, offering them no means of escape. The conspirators then drove the trailer loaded with containers to meet the "hot shot" driver who would further transport the trailer north. Authorities executed a search warrant on Sept. 5, 2023, on the ranch property and recovered three firearms.

Once in custody, law enforcement discovered Villarreal had a pistol in his possession. As a convicted felon, federal law prohibits him from possessing firearms or ammunition.

On Feb. 1, Noe Vasquez received 144 months in federal prison as part of this conspiracy. At that time, the court heard testimony of how the smuggling organization moved approximately 3000 non-U.S. citizens and used firearms to control them.

All will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

BP conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Devin V. Walker prosecuted the case.